Asian Science Citation Index is committed to provide an authoritative, trusted and significant information by the
coverage of the most important and influential journals
to meet the needs of the global scientific community.

An eleven-week research was conducted to evaluate the
carcass characteristic and economics of production of rabbit fed cassava
peel meal, peeled cassava tuber meal and composite cassava tuber meal
diets. Twenty-four weaner rabbits of mixed strains and sexes aged 6 to
7 weeks randomly allotted to four dietary treatments replicated two times
each with 3 rabbits per replicate in a completely randomized design. The
parameters studied were final live-weights, dressed weight, dressing percentage,
internal organs weights, feed cost (N kg–1),
total feed cost (N), feed cost (N kg–1 gain)
and relative cost advantage (%). There was no significant difference (p>0.05)
in the final live weights, dressed weights, dressing percentage and in
most of the internal organs measured. However, economic of production
data indicated lowest cost per weight gain (N kg–1)
by the rabbits fed composite cassava tuber meal, while highest cost per
weight gain was recorded in the rabbits fed the control diet (maize meal).

The efficacy of wetting sun-dried cassava tuber meal as a method of reducing its hydrocyanide (HCN) content and improving its nutritive value for laying hens was investigated. Cassava tubers were peeled, chopped into pieces, sun-dried and then milled. Part of the Sun-dried Cassava Tuber Meal (SCTM) was soaked in water at the rate of 5 parts of water to 4 parts of the meal, thinly spread on the floor for 5 h and then taken out and sun-dried again. The Raw Cassava Tuber Meal (RCTM), Sun-dried Cassava Tuber Meal (SCTM) and Wetted Sun-dried Cassava Tuber Meal (WSCTM) were analyzed for HCN content. Five diets were made such that diet 1 (control) contained no cassava tuber meal; in diets 2 and 3, 50% of the maize in diet 1 was replaced with SCTM and WSCTM, respectively, while in diets 4 and 5, 100% of the maize was replaced with SCTM and WSCTM, respectively. Each diet was fed to a group of 24 laying hens for 12 weeks. At the end of the feeding trial, 4 birds were randomly selected from each group and used for determination of internal organ weights and haematological indices. Raw cassava tuber meal contained 800 ppm HCN, SCTM contained 50 ppm HCN while WSCTM contained 10 ppm HCN. The group on 100% WSCTM diet consumed significantly (p<0.05) less feed, gained least body weight and recorded least hen-day egg production, possibly due to very powdery nature of the diet. Egg weight and feed conversion ratio were not affected by the treatments (p>0.05). Egg quality indices were also not affected by the treatments (p>0.05). Internal organ weights were not affected by the treatments (p>0.05) but the birds on cassava diets recorded significantly (p<0.05) more abdominal fat. The birds on cassava diets also recorded significantly (p<0.05) less WBC and PCV values relative to the control group.